Kingdom
by sophiewrites26
Summary: Eugene and Rapunzel explore a bookstore before heading toward the boats.


The Kingdom

He watched her as she danced happily from food stand to food stand, from storefront to storefront, from stranger to stranger. He marveled at her easy effervescence. Having been on the run since a young age, he had never been one to speak amiably with people on the street. He was used to keeping his head down and his thoughts to himself. Watching her experience village life for the first time was inspiring.

He loved seeing her approach hesitant, diffident villagers and watching them warm to her almost immediately. He was sure that they could see in her what he had discovered in her over the last few days. It wasn't only the way she looked, and it wasn't only the things she said. It was something else, an intangible essence, a confidence, a strength, as if she were connected somehow to the mechanism that drove the world.

She waved goodbye to an old woman whose dress she had been ardently admiring. Smiling contentedly, she watched the woman go and he saw that something had grabbed her attention. Her eyes grew wide and her previously ebullient energy quieted and became almost reverent. Her hands seized his arm and she looked at him with an expression filled with joy and awe. He looked to find what had caught her attention and he smiled. A bookstore.

"Can we go in?" she asked, as if surely only a select few were allowed access into such a prestigious establishment.

He merely gestured toward the door in response and she squealed excitedly. She took his extended hand and ran for the store's entrance. He almost tripped as she pulled him behind her.

A bell rang as they entered and she stopped dead in her tracks. He did his best not to bowl her over after her sudden halt and watched her as her hands viscerally went to her mouth in amazement. Her voice was low and soft when she finally spoke.

"I never could have imagined that the world could have so many books!"

He chuckled at her innocence and gave her a gentle shove toward the bookshelves.

"Pick one," he said.

"One?" she asked incredulously, "I could no sooner pick a star out of the sky!"

She felt overwhelmed with happiness. She slowly walked through the store, doing her best not to overlook a single title. After blissfully roaming through the isles for a few minutes, she looked up to see him enthralled with a large hardback. She smiled and walked over to him, curious as to what had captivated him so entirely.

"What's that?" she asked, gesturing to the book.

He startled a bit at her intrusion of the world he had been lost in, but he grinned at her and lowered the book so that she could see.

"It's called an atlas," he explained, "It's a book of maps."

"Maps of what?" she asked, smiling up at him.

He shrugged. "Everything, I guess." He looked from her back to the book and she returned her gaze to the pages in front of her.

"I've seen something like this before!" she exclaimed. Then, more to herself than to him she said slowly, "I had found it at the bottom of the basket Mother had once brought home from the village. I asked her about it and she dismissed it. Said it was nothing to worry about. She hadn't wanted me to see it." She said these last words as if understanding something for the first time.

She noticed that he was looking at her with concern. Embarrassed, she said lightly, "So what is it?"

He looked at her incredulously. "Well, it's – it's the world."

Her gaze went back down to the map. Confusion swept over her. He must have seen on her face her lack of understanding.

"Let me show you," he said. He sat down on the floor and looked up at her expectantly. She grinned and obediently sat beside him. He flipped through the pages, searching for something and then laid the book down in front of them.

"See this?" he said. "This is a map of Europe." He pointed to a specific spot on the map and said, "This is where we are. This little space here," his fingers following the outline of a border, "This is our country."

Her brows furrowed. "It's so small."

He laughed. "And that was just Europe…" he picked up the book again and laid it back down when he had found the pages of the world that he had first shown her. "This is Europe," he said gesturing to the familiar shape that had been magnified on the previous page. "And this," he smacked his finger to a more precise point, "Is where we are."

Her mind reeled. The idea of a country had always seemed so incredibly vast in contrast to what she had known. She couldn't believe that the country that had once seemed so massive was so diminutive on this map of the world. A fierce anger with her mother struck her so hard that it almost took her breath away. How could her mother have kept her in once place for so long when there was so much to see?

She turned suddenly to him. "Tell me about the places you've been."

He grinned at her and slowly began telling her about his experiences that took place on exotic islands and high mountains. He spoke animatedly and would periodically pick up the book and turn to a page that better illustrated what he was describing.

She listened to him intently, asking dozens of questions that he eagerly answered. She observed him as he spoke. He was coming alive. His gestures, his facial expressions and his tone of voice all proved to her how passionate he was about what he was sharing with her. She felt privileged to see this part of him – sure that he wouldn't have revealed this side of himself to her when they had first met.

After an especially enthusiastic description of one of his journeys, she sighed, "That sounds amazing!"

"You would love it there! We could –" he stopped quickly and looked away.

How she wished he would finish that sentence! The idea that he'd want her with him on one of his adventures made her heart swell and her cheeks flush. She looked at him hopefully, but then realized she shouldn't be hoping for more time alone with him. She'd be back home tomorrow. And the next day, and the next, and the next…


End file.
